If you haven’t heard or seen NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series, that’s a rabbit hole you should spend your day going down. Basically, bands huddle around a desk at the NPR offices and play stripped-down versions of their songs. Everyone from The National to T-Pain has stopped by, and now…
Billy Joel will return to Denver on September 16 for a show at the Pepsi Center. This will be his first show here in five years and one of only ten non-New York shows scheduled in 2015. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 6, at 10 a.m. through Altitude Tickets…
On Friday, January 16, before a show scheduled for that night at Casselman’s, Puddle of Mudd frontman Wes Scantlin arrived at Denver International Airport, where he promptly hopped on a baggage carousel. That did not end well. “Evidentlyn someone in their group was egging him on to do it,” says…
Winter on the Rocks, featuring Major Lazer and Damien Marley, is just one day away, and that means it’s time to pick out what to wear. Many Red Rocks shows involve a lot of bare stomachs, bright colors and flower crowns. But Winter on the Rocks is, obviously, in January…
Eck’s Saloon, long a haven for both local and national hard rock acts like Warrant, Quiet Riot, and Skid Row, recently closed. The Lakewood-based music venue and bar, once owned by Mike Bruno (who also used to own Iliff Park Saloon and Bruno’s Saloon) and which changed hands twice over…
Now in its fifth incarnation, the running Wet Pizza compilation series is a perfect representation of Denver’s just-under-the-radar music scene. But Wet Pizza V (Wet It Be) — a collection of of 32 tracks by 32 artists — isn’t merely a snapshot of this city’s vibrant DIY-minded music community; it…
Until recently, Sunday nights in Pueblo meant everything to kids who were into the city’s music scene. Phil’s Radiator was the only all-ages venue within a thirty-mile radius, and the old mechanic’s shop would fill up with teenagers displaying Xs on their hands and band names on their Converse All…
Today is the last day to purchase a line of clothing designed by the electronic music producer Derek Vincent Smith, a.k.a Pretty Lights. He is paying homage to his home state and to his alma mater, the University of Colorado in Boulder, with the Colorado-based merchandise. The collection is called…
When it comes to music, Land Lines’ Martina Grbac has wanted something bigger for as long as she can remember. When she was in the fifth grade, her elementary school set out dozens of instruments in the auditorium to help students decide which ones they might want to play. Grbac…
The Mishawaka Amphitheatre, one of Colorado’s oldest music venues, announced last week that Z2 Entertainment, which operates the Boulder and Fox theaters, will take over booking duties starting with the 2015 season.”We’re really excited, because Z2 can bring the shows the Mish is used to, like the jam bands and…
The Westword Music Showcase will return this summer. We’ll celebrate the broad and vibrant Colorado music scene with a day-long festival featuring some of the area’s most interesting bands, DJs, groups and solo artists. Finalists for the Westword Music Awards will, as always, make up the vast majority of the…
“My doctor told me to drop everything I was doing and check myself into the ER immediately. They would be expecting me,” Jason Hornyak writes in his equally hilarious and sincere blog CancerTrolling. Hornyak went to the ER last week. He went from normal to making a new home in…
[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an 80’s rocker on a road trip through his past with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work in his new book YOUTH IS WASTED. Last Week’s Episode! • BACKBEAT’S GREATEST…
Rush headlines the Pepsi Center on Saturday, July 11 as part of its 34-city 40th anniversary tour. Reserved tickets ($46-$126) go on sale on Friday, January 30 at 10 a.m. Also, exclusive Rush ticket packages are available vipnation.com. Ryan Adams’ Red Rocks show on Thursday, June 4is one of many…
What an ironic week for t-shirt weather in Denver. We music fans will benefit plenty from the SIA festivites, which mostly kick off later in the week. Among the shows in the snow sports industry event’s general orbit are the return of Run the Jewels, fresh off a world-beating performance…
The duet is often maligned. What should be a simple yet effective songwriting tool has been ruined by years of cheesy celebrity cameos, lackluster songwriting and poor musical pairings. But there are also a few gleaming gems out there. Here are our favorite duets in history. Let use know about…
Jena Ardell Fact: Any band who uses Times New Roman on their album cover isn’t going to make it in the music industry. (Feel free to prove us wrong, though). Smart typography selection is as important to a band’s image as having a memorable logo. In 1937, industrial designer and…
At some point last year a drummer with arm sleeve tattoos wandered into Coda Brewery in Aurora. He struck a conversation with the owner, Luke Smith, a pharmacologist turned brewer and lifelong musician, and the local band Dragondeer came up. Blank quickly went to the back of the brewery to…
There are more reasons than ever to celebrate Denver’s music scene: more venues, more bands, more people finding ways to make this city a great one for fans. We’ve been documenting the state of that scene in the Best of Denver since 1984. Some of that year’s winners — like…
Nearly 200 artists recorded recorded at Caribou Ranch, just outside of Nederland, throughout the ’70s and early ’80s. Starting with Joe Walsh’s 1972 debut solo album, Barnstorm, the ranch’s recording studio hosted some huge names in music, including Michael Jackson, the Beach Boys, Chicago, Frank Zappa, Billy Joel, Elton John…
It’s a busy weekend in Colorado — local favorite Railroad Earth is in town, the Toasters’ tour heads south and there’s plenty more. Our picks for the best shows over the next few days are below. See also: 50 Photos That Prove Red Rocks Is the Most Beautiful Venue on…
Bruce Pavitt is best known as a founder of Sub Pop Records — the label that is credited with bringing Nirvana, grunge and the entire “Seattle sound” to the masses more than twenty years ago. Pavitt’s devotion, skill and connections fed the early days of this regional music movement that…
